1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging-device cleaning apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a large number of digital cameras that record still images with image sensors including a CCD have been available on the market. Such digital cameras do not require photo films. Instead, the digital cameras focus images on image sensors including a CCD and store the image data onto external storage devices, such as memory cards or hard disk drives. Unlike photo films, the external storage devices allow repeated writing and erasing of the images, thus conveniently reducing the operational cost for consumable supplies.
The structure of a single-lens reflex (SLR) digital camera with interchangeable lenses tends to accumulate dust and dirt in the vicinity of the image sensors when the lenses are changed. The dust and dirt stick to the surface of a filter mounted in the vicinity of the imaging surface, and shadows of the dust and dirt sensed by the image sensors degrade the quality of the images. Unlike photo film, the imaging surface of the image sensor is not replaced for each shot. Accordingly, once the dust and dirt stick to the image sensor, their shadows appear in every photo image unless they are removed. To solve these problems, the image sensor unit may be sealed as tightly as possible or the filter may be positioned far from the image sensor. Alternatively, a user can detach a lens from the camera and expose the image sensor to air in a special mode to remove the dust and dirt sticking to the surface of the image sensor with a blower.
One of the known arts, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-229110, discloses a camera technology that removes dust and dirt sticking to an imaging section by an airflow generator incorporated into a camera body. Unfortunately, in the above-described technology to seal the image sensor unit, if the camera has a mechanical focal-plane shutter, the shutter unit itself must be sealed. This sealed structure is disadvantageously complicated and bulky. In addition, even if the shutter unit is sealed, sliding shutter blades, which are part of the mechanical shutter, cause the surfaces of the parts to wear and generate metal particles. The particles stick to the image sensor unit. According to the other solution in which the surface of the filter is positioned far from the image sensor, as described above, shadows of the dust and dirt can be out of focus on the imaging surface. However, the blurs of the shadows still appear on the image. Therefore, this is not an ideal solution.
A user can detach a lens from the camera and expose the image sensor to air in a special mode, and then can remove the dust and dirt sticking to the surface of the image sensor with a blower. In this case, the top of the blower may accidentally damage the image sensor or the shutter.
According to the above-described patent, the dust and dirt can be removed from the imaging surface. However, the built-in airflow generator requires a modification of the camera body structure which requires increased assembly parts, thus disadvantageously resulting in increased cost and complicated assembly.